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This is an inquiry about the calculation of the FTE in relation to our project in Zurich, Switzerland.

In the LEED Reference Guide on page 53 the calculation of the FTE is based on a 8-hour wo...

Inquiry

This is an inquiry about the calculation of the FTE in relation to our project in Zurich, Switzerland.

In the LEED Reference Guide on page 53 the calculation of the FTE is based on a 8-hour working day. That means that an 8-hour occupant has an FTE value of 1.0. The standard working day in Switzerland contains 8.5 hours of work.

In a FTE calculation on the basis that is provided in the LEED Reference Guide the normal working day of one single person would have the FTE value of 1.0625. As a consequence of the, in case of 1000 people fulltime staff this FTE calculation would have additional number of 63 FTE in comparion to an FTE value of 1.0.

Is it possible to calculate the FTE value for this project with an 8.5 instead of 8 hour day, so that we would have the FTE value of 1.0 for a standard 8.5 hour-working day?

Ruling

The project team has inquired if projects in Switzerland may use 8.5-hours as their working day instead of 8-hours as in the US. Each full-time employee based on Swiss and US labor laws works an 8.5-hour day, which includes a half-hour unpaid lunch break and two 15-minute paid breaks. In order to maintain the baseline for projects everywhere when calculating FTE occupancy, all Swiss projects, including those industries that have an overtime work culture for full-time employees, should still use the 8.0-hour work day in their FTE calculations. Applicable internationally.

This credit interpretation request is in reference to LEED-EB requirements for a 497 000 s.f.g. Convention Centre located in Quebec City (Canada), winner of the 2006 AIPC Apex Award for the World's Be...

Inquiry

This credit interpretation request is in reference to LEED-EB requirements for a 497 000 s.f.g. Convention Centre located in Quebec City (Canada), winner of the 2006 AIPC Apex Award for the World's Best Congress Centre given by the International Association of Congress Centres. The Quebec City Convention Centre (QCCC) has for mission to welcome conferences, meetings and large-scale exhibits by offering an international convention facility. Three (3) user types are indicated for the congress Centre: administrators, organizers and visitors. 1. Most of the administrators (approximately 70 people) carry on their functions from an adjacent building from the convention Centre. Only three employees are working on a daily basis in the centre in period of event. These full-time employees shall be included in calculations. 2. Organizers are exclusively subcontractors. The Centre doesn't have any direct employee appointed to events organization. Number of organizers shall be estimated to be included in calculations. 3. Visitors represent the majority of building occupants. Visitors do not qualify as transient occupants because most of them use the Centre for at least one day/event. All events held at the Centre cover a period, in average, of 340 occupation days per years. Some events require the visitors' presence inside the Centre for a period of more than 8 hours. Some events require the visitors' presence for less than 8 hours. Number of visitors shall be estimated to be included in calculations. Occupants' estimation Administrators: The number of three full-time employees will be used in calculations. Visitors: According to administrators' projections, the number of visitors attending events held in the Centre (short and long period) can be divided on a basis of 8 hours of occupation to estimate an average of occupants/day. The Centre is monitoring the number of entrances/event. The exact number of participants from the two last years' data would be used to calculate (on an 8 hours basis) the number of daily regular occupants. Organizers: All organizers are subcontracted by the QCCC. The QCCC doesn't keep track of many employees from each subcontractor is working inside of the Centre. However, the Centre administrators estimate from their experience the number of organizers/day required to set up and operate an event to 4%, in average, of the total participants attending an event. Are the 2 above estimations acceptable in order to complete calculations/requirements of credit SSc3.2 of LEED-EB V2.0?

Ruling

The above estimations appear reasonable with the following notes: Bike racks and showers require different occupancy calculations. For showers, occupants should be considered individuals who regularly spend a full working day at the facility. This would seem to imply administrators and organizers (but not visitors) in this instance. Bike racks, however, should include visitors in the occupancy calculation as you have suggested in the 'occupants estimation' above. Also, please note that it would be unusual for a 500,000 square foot convention center to have a full-time staff of only 3 employees. Please ensure that occupancy calculations include management, staff, food services, and particularly custodial services, (unless those services all fall within the 'organizer' category as well, in which case you have addressed them already). Applicable Internationally; Canada.

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